Oct 28 - GSD Says Risso Bakery Developers Have Received Credit Finance “Secret Loan”
The GSD says that a “slip” at the last Development and Planning Commission meeting has led them to discover that the developers for the former site of the Risso Bakery have obtained funding from Credit Finance Company Limited.
The GSD says it obtained proof of a mortgage charge in favour of Credit Finance over Threepwood Limited that owns the property in Engineer’s Lane from Companies House. This information was presented at a press conference held in the GSD headquarters earlier today.
Although the mortgage charge was for an unknown amount, the estimated cost for building the 63-room hotel is said to be £10million in the initial planning applications.
Daniel Feetham, Leader of the GSD, said: “It is absolutely outrageous in our view that we have secret loans - because that is the only way to describe it – secret loans using savers’ money in order to destroy part of our heritage.
“And the Government may say I don’t know how, or the government may eventually say that the funding did not materialize for whatever reason, but the reality is that there is a charge to this company that we discovered in our research, in favour of Credit Finance.
“So the intention was to facilitate, with savers’ money, the building of that hotel which is on the site of the demolition of the Risso Bakery in respect of which there has been an outcry in Gibraltar because that was one of the most beautiful pieces of heritage in the centre of town.”
The GSD says it is concerned that money from the Gibraltar Savings Bank is again being used to foot the bill for another hotel, following the clashes in 2013 between the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Leader of the GSD Daniel Feetham in Parliament over the loan to the Sunborn Hotel.
The GSD believes this reinforces what it describes as the “complete lack of transparency “over the activities of Credit Finance and the use to which £400million of Savings Bank Money is being put. The party says it is “incredible” that the Government is happy to financially support a developer in “destroying Gibraltar’s heritage”.
The GSD has today called on the Chief Minister to explain to the people of Gibraltar what he is doing with their savings and their heritage.
GSD candidate Roy Clinton emphasised that there is no knowledge regarding the process, lending criteria or who is in charge of Credit Finance.
Mr Clinton added: “The fact remains that the directors of Credit Finance Limited were prepared to give the developers a loan.
“Frankly, for us as an Opposition to find out in this way is unacceptable, and this is not the way Gibraltar’s public finances should be run.”
Robert Vasquez, who will also be representing the GSD in the upcoming elections next month, said that although the GSLP-Liberal Alliance adverts claim to tell the truth, they are not showing the other side of the coin.
He added: “What they are hiding is something that is constant, they are hiding a lot and what we have discovered in relation to this particular loan on the Risso Bakery is more evidence of them hiding things, and I say to you: how can you trust a Government that spends all its time hiding things from the public?”
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